Granola is a new freeware program that promises to give you instant enviro-cred by optimizing the power usage of your computer on install. Help the planet, use Granola, the blurb says. The developers claim that it conserves energy without slowing down your PC, and it certainly doesn’t appear to have any impact in live use.

Once installed all you get is a small tray icon and the comforting ability to open up the dashboard and see that you’ve saved 20% of CPU energy without even trying. Complacent, moi? Anyhoo, it’s as valid a step as switching off the hall light during off peak, so I’ll keep the thing installed. It’s free for personal use and there’s a Linux version too, for all the hard core out there.

That is where Granola comes in. Using sophisticated workload modeling and prediction algorithms, Granola can determine when your computer is working and the CPU needs to be “bright” and when your computer is relaxing and the CPU can be “dim” without affecting your work. This allows Granola to automatically change DVFS modes to save energy when you can while still running at full speed when you need it.